At Reina + Co, we help creatives like you who have all the ideas and want help focusing on the most important things. We want to empower you with the tools you need to take decisive action that will help you to grow a business that's Fueled with Heart.

March

14

2018

FEAR + CONFIDENCE

3 Steps to Staking Your Claim as a Go-To Expert

Your content is a key way for your audience to get to know you as the go-to person for a particular kind of content. Having an intentional plan for how you want to be known by your community is the first step in figuring out what content you should be creating. An expert is somebody who can give proven solutions and provide results for her audience and customers. In this post, we’re breaking down how you can get over the mental hurdle of being an expert, how content will help you position yourself so you don’t have to sell constantly and how exactly to decide what you want to be known for.

Without a plan, all you’re doing is throwing spaghetti (or ideas) against a wall to see what sticks. Here’s how to create a plan, overcome your mental hurdles of owning the “expert” status, and becoming a leader who your community can rely on.

Have a plan

Having a plan starts with knowing where your person (whoever you’re talking to) is experiencing currently. Understanding their challenges, struggles, annoyances, or what they feel overwhelmed by is an important part of being a go-to expert. If you have this information, you are better able to shape their experience through your lense and give them answers that they’re seeking.

Next, figure out where your person wants to be going. Understanding the end result they want to get to is another key component of building the plan. So think about what are the changes they want to see from where they are currently? What tangible and intangible things are different? For example, they might be looking for a product that helps them solve their adult acne and the end result they’re looking for is to be free of acne without a ton of hassle. In another example, they might be looking to grow their email subscribers that has been stagnant and the end result that you’ll be able to provide them with is to make lead generation more effortless.

Now that you know what Point A (where they are) and Point Z (where they want to be), you’ll be able to create a better map of how to get your person to that place using messaging and positioning.

Add value + Give free content

One way to showcase that you’re the person to help your person with their challenges and roadblocks is to build your authority through consistent content creation. You hold a piece of knowledge that is intrinsic in getting your person a step away from Point A and closer to Point Z.

Looking back on your Point A person, think of the things that you can help answer or alleviate their challenges. The content you create, the messages you share, and the encouragement you give is the key to helping somebody solve their problems.

As a content creator and expert, you’re crafting the journey for your person. You know the journey better than anybody and you’re the guide, cheerleader, teacher that nudges them along the path to take the next step.

Quick tip:

Adding value is as simple as answering questions that your community has. If you don’t know or you’re not sure what those are, ask them! You can take a concept and break it down into bite size pieces for somebody who isn’t privy to that knowledge to be able to grasp simply.

Mental hurdle

It might feel like a big challenge to own that you are an expert. Trust me, you have more knowledge than the person who is at Point A and you have the tools, insight, and skills to help them move down the path towards Point Z.

Your job here is to figure out what your area of knowledge and expertise are and for you to start owning it. Figuring out what you want to be known for and what your area of expertise is needs to happen now. But if you’re a perfectionist and feel like you have to wait until it’s blindingly obvious, don’t. Putting a stake in the ground now and owning what you know now is the only way for you to take up more space. For me, my message has changed and as I continue to talk about it, to work on it, work with clients, it gets clearer and clearer. So don’t wait and start carving out your knowledge center.

The biggest mindset hurdle you’ll have to climb over is knowing that you deserve to take up space. Your knowledge could change people’s lives. Isn’t it worth putting your neck out for, knowing that you’ll be helping somebody with what you already have at your disposal?

Be a Leader

Being a leader is about gaining people’s trust. People like to feel taken care of and understood. So when you know your person’s Point A to Point Z, you’ll help them to feel like you get them. It’s your turn to take them down a journey of free content, trainings, low cost offers, and more intimate and high-touch offers that will help them to ultimately arrive at their goal.

It’s your job as a leader to understand what you want your person to takeaway from your journey and to create products, offers, and services that answer their Point A challenges allowing them to arrive at their goals (Point Z).

We’ve created a tool that helps you organize your content, your thoughts and most importantly your path from Point A to Point Z called the Verticals Board that you can grab here and starting using to map out the path!

Verticals

The Verticals Board allows you to outline your philosophy about the certain area in your business and put your own spin on it, to define what your philosophies are and examples you have. It helps you to outline talking points or how you see it differently than anybody else who might be talking about the same topic. Then it allows you to document all the content you’ve created (or plan to create) and the products that will help you take your person from Point A to Point Z in the process.

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